Result of the evolution of several primitive games, it is impossible to determine the exact origin of billiards. It may, however, be in a ritual practiced by barbarian warriors of the 3rd and 4th centuries. They placed rough stones on the ground and tried to hit them with more rounded ones – as in Italian bocce, also popular in Brazil. Depending on the degree of difficulty of the game and the final disposition of the pieces, they believed it was possible to anticipate the challenges of the next battle and even how many enemies could be killed. But the first references to billiards itself date back to the 15th century. Some authors call a pioneer a Frenchman known as Devigne, an artisan at the court of Louis XI (1461-1483). However, England, China, Italy and Spain also appear as possible precursors of modern billiards.
This variety is reflected in the different forms of dispute: billiards is the generic name for several table games that use cue and balls, including Snooker (or snooker), Carom (or French billiards), Bagatela, Pool (popular in United States and Canada) and Mata-Mata (typical in Brazilian bars). The oldest tables were made of wood and warped over time. Then came the marble stone tables, still imperfect because they “sweated” on hot days. Finally, those made of slate, a stone that can be easily cut and polished. Balls were once made of stone, wood, horn and ivory. Today they are produced with synthetic materials, especially bakelite. The clubs were crude sticks, used only to pull or push the balls and save a few steps around the table.
It was discovered later that the most tapered part of these bats, until then used for gripping, was much more suitable for propelling the balls. Its evolution in the 18th century was decisive for the refinement of the technique and the popularization of the game, first in Europe, then in the world.
Billiards did not appear all at once
3000 BC
Scholars believe that stones and sticks were already used in social games, in ancient versions of games like croquet and cricket.
3rd to 4th Centuries
Tribes of barbarian warriors throw rounded stones over other stones placed on the ground, in a mixture of game and divination ritual before going into battle.
XIV CENTURY
Disputes evolve and diversify, but are still fought in the open field, as well as in croquet
XV CENTURY
First records of the aristocratic table game on the European continent. Legend has it that King Louis XI played billiards while his soldiers massacred Protestants
CENTURY XVI
Billiards fever arrives in the United Kingdom, with the Scottish queen Mary Stuart as one of the main enthusiasts – so much so that, when she was beheaded by order of the English queen Elizabeth I, the cloth of her playing table was transformed into her shroud. In the same period, the Spaniards introduced the game of billiards in North America.
XVII CENTURY
Wooden balls are replaced with ivory
XIX CENTURY
Trying to find a substitute for the ivory used in billiard balls (each elephant tusk provides a maximum of five), the American John Wesley Hyatt discovers celluloid, in 1869. At the same time, snooker appears, a variation developed by English soldiers in India
20th CENTURY
Playing billiards becomes a profession. In the United States and Europe, champions earn fortunes